


Atlantis

by Kaoz



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-22
Updated: 2009-11-22
Packaged: 2017-10-19 10:06:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/199675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaoz/pseuds/Kaoz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were sitting in the shitty boat rowing out in to the Bay because the conspiracy nut had stumbled onto some web site with pictures of a flaming ball streaking across the sky and said it was 'a flying saucer'. Set after S5.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Atlantis

It was all wrong. Why couldn’t he see that? Still, leaving him alone with the other two wasn’t an option. Not with family. Granted he wasn’t exactly immediate family but he was as close as a brother. Hell, Judson was all the family she had left. Her parents were dead, some accident a few years back she still wasn’t so sure had been a real ‘accident’ but that was the _official_ finding. She snorted derisively at the thought.

Why did people think she was stupid? Why did they think lying to her was for her own good?

She’d graduated high school at sixteen and of course _that_ didn’t make her a freak among her peers. Why would it? She’d earned a full scholarship moving with her parents to continue her education because she had been a minor, and minors just didn’t live in a college dorm. Nope, no regular college experience for her. Still, she followed in Dad’s foot steps earning herself a Masters in dead languages which wasn’t difficult to do considering Dad had been teaching her since she could read. But learning didn’t stop there especially seeing her brother go off and travel the world courtesy of the United States AirForce. Then again, rules hadn’t always appealed to her. Rules were not her friends which got her thinking of her own adventurous streak. Of course, watching _Indiana Jones_ movies sold her on the idea of becoming an archeologist early on in her young life. With a Doctorate in that field she certainly had the advantage over Axell.

 _‘And I'm still a freak because of it.’_

Yes, a freak. A freaking brainiac who’d gone off the deep end after Axell died. _In the line of duty._ Because that’s what they were saying, the Government. Those men in dress uniform telling her how brave Axell had been, how he’d been an excellent soldier, an invaluable team member and how sorry they were for her loss.

Right.

They were sorry. So sorry they left her a neatly folded American flag and some shiny medals. That was all. Everything her brother had left behind for his time in their service. And they never told her exactly what he’d been doing for the AirForce. Just kept repeating the same bullshit story about how he’d been shot- enemy fire. Only they never said where. They never said who the enemy was and didn’t answer her pointed questions. Axell hadn’t been forthcoming with the answers either and it made her all the more determined to find out what he’d been doing in Colorado.

So she was alone. Except for Judson who for some odd reason had pretty much taken up the spare room in their house ever since the uniforms delivered their letter.  A letter that meant nothing to her. Not a damn thing.

Axell was gone, dead and no reason. None she could see.

Though Judson had ideas. Hell, he was just as freaking brilliant as she- or so he said. Axell hadn’t been stupid, not by a long shot.

 _‘And he still died.’_

So what did that say about her? What did that say about Judson and his newfound ‘friends’ with the seedy connections and weird ideas? Two misfits- thugs really because one turned out to be a thief, or a fence- something like that. Not that it mattered. They were both criminals and she at least knew better than to associate with criminals yet there she was. Sitting in the shitty boat with her cousin and the criminals rowing out in to the Bay because the conspiracy nut had stumbled onto some web site with pictures of a flaming ball streaking across the sky and said it was ‘a flying saucer’.

“Jusdon. We should go back-.”

“Shut up.”

“Don’t Blaine.” Judson warned glaring at the tank sitting at the other end of the boat. He’d been trying to avoid trouble but placing himself between Blaine and his cousin in the boat apparently didn’t help.

“We’re not going back.” Blaine stated with a harsh glare at all three. He’d stolen the krappy boat and they were a third of the way into the Bay already. He sure as hell wasn’t going to row back to land just because the little brunette wanted out.

“You're an idiot.”

“Sawyer-.” Judson groaned but his cousin wasn’t afraid of the big man sitting just behind him. He blamed that on Axell because his cousin had been the one training her in self defense since she was in grade school. Years of training tended to give his petite cousin a boost in confidence which tended to come off a little bit cocky. Sometimes that wasn’t so bad but there were the few occasions when she managed to start a fight and all because she wouldn’t stop talking.

There was a six year difference between the siblings but that hadn’t meant much to Axell. He’d always been protective of his little sister and no matter how much she bugged him for answers, work was the one subject he was tight lipped about. Not a word about what he did for the AirForce aside from ‘classified’.

“You're not far behind, Judson.” Sawyer snapped. “This entire area, the whole of the San Francisco Bay is quarantined by the United States Navy. The _Navy_.” She repeated stressing the word and leaning towards her cousin.

“Yeah, the Navy.” Blaine mocked. “Why the fuck do you think we’re out here?”

“Because you're a fucking retard who believes conspiracy theories are real.” Sawyer snapped back quickly.

“I'm fucking tossing her over the side, Jud.” Blaine’s voice rose and he stopped rowing, ready to fulfill his threat.

“Man, stop pissing her off.” Judson complained turning to his cousin. “Would it kill you to just row?” he asked her. “We get to the middle of the Bay, check it out and maybe we find a flying saucer under the water. Or we don’t.” he shrugged. “Either way, you got some exercise tonight.”

Sawyer huffed an exasperated breath not bothering to answer him. She did, however, pick up her oars and start rowing. Blaine didn’t hide the smirk on his face but Sawyer wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of a reply. Again she wondered why in heaven she was listening to her cousin? Moving to San Francisco hadn’t been her idea but for the last year that’s where they’d lived. All because Judson wanted to get out of the mountains and enjoy the last of his Twenties. Sawyer made a face looking at her cousin and forcing herself to analyze him without the inward gag reflex because he was family.

He was well built, tall- almost the same height as Axell had been. They both had that inky black hair but Judson’s was longer, not cropped short like her brother had kept it. And she really did see why the girls fell over him, his eyes were a deep blue sometimes more green which was unusual but he’d bat those ridiculous eyes at a female and she’d drop her panties without pause. Of course the smile helped and whatever else he whispered in their ears with that throaty voice of his. There had been plenty of nights Sawyer had gone out for a walk and ended up at some little restaurant, usually the same Chinese place since it was 24hours, waiting for Judson to get his fill and quit with the noise. There were drawbacks to living with a guy, even if he was related. Maybe more so _because_ of that.

“Feel that sea air, coz.” Judson closed his eyes and pulled in a deep breath momentarily pausing in his rowing. Sawyer glared, dark eyes narrowing with annoyance. She knew he was only trying to lighten her mood but the fact they were surrounded by Navy vessels kept her well aware of the rules they were all breaking. Rules might not have been her friends but she wasn’t stupid enough to actively get herself in trouble. Not with the Government anyway. It probably wouldn’t be so bad- getting caught- if it was just Judson but they had two criminals with them. And the boat- or what passed as a boat? Yeah, Sawyer was positive it was stolen.

How the hell was she going to explain why they were all together in quarantined waters? And if she managed a halfway believable story how was she keeping Judson from screwing it up?

 _‘Headache.’_

Yeah, that’s exactly what she’d end up with by the end of the night. She wouldn’t admit to being curious, not if she could help it. There’d been a huge power outage two days before and a couple little ones  all over the city since then, of course Blaine was adamant the aliens were behind it and just about everything else going wrong with the world. Really, you wouldn’t think him a conspiracy nut by looking at him. Hell, Sawyer couldn’t believe he had a brain beneath all that bulging muscle.

 _‘Maybe it’s the steroids? Body builders use them too…’_

She looked up, sighing because there was no point to the rambling thoughts going around her head. The sky was black, at least as close to black as it could get with half a moon shining in it. The lights from the city were reflected off the water far behind them and getting farther as they rowed. She frowned pulling on the oars and looking around for the Navy boats she knew had to be out there.

Why weren’t they being stopped? Held at gun point unless the Navy shot first, if that was the case then they were screwed.

So where were the squids?

“Premature wrinkles, coz.” Judson drawled winking at her. She didn’t reply, just rowed feeling ill at ease and just a little exhilarated. On a usual Thursday night she’d be sitting in her room going over her old notes, digging through manuscripts, or just killing the hours trying to keep her brain from rotting with inactivity. That was, until she’d slip the box out from under her bed and wish she weren’t the only one left.

Why did she feel as though the world were changing without her? Every day bled into the next and nothing felt different about her but the world was. Sometimes she thought it was all in her head, some imbalance or maybe a screwy DNA strand shorting her brain circuits. She had to remind herself she wasn’t alone, Judson was always around but that wasn’t fair to him either. A grown man… and he was just wasting away. Babysitting because he’d promised her brother. 

 _‘What the hell is wrong with me?’_ she asked but as usual there wasn’t a reply. It’d be scary if there was one.

Drawing in a deep breath she pulled on the oars and settled into her cold seat. As soon as she pulled back her eyes widened in shock. The whole end of the boat was gone and with it Blaine. It was just gone and before Sawyer could get a word of warning past her numb lips Judson disappeared. They were both gone and the boat wasn’t sinking though half of it was gone as well.

“What the hell-!” Eryn yelped trying to reverse the momentum of the boat. He tried frantically watching as Sawyer vanished in front of him. “Fuck this!” he scrambled to get up yanking on his jacket which got hooked into the oars. “No!”

“My… God…” Sawyer’s whisper drew Judson’s eyes to her, away from the shining lights on the water. “Is… what is…” but she couldn’t finish her sentence, not when the shining spires lit the entire bay.

“Mother fucker!” Blaine whistled. “Didn’t I tell you!” he demanded yanking on Judson’s shoulder. “Fuck man, what’d I say? Huh? Look at it!” he got up, spread a hand out to encompass the sight before them, a city floating in the San Francisco Bay.

“What is that? Where the hell are we?” Eryn demanded from his spot behind Sawyer. He was wide eyed and pale, definitely frightened and not hiding the fact. He was clutching the sides of the boat, pasty faced but the only way back was with the boat and Blaine wasn’t about to turn back now.

“This is what the government’s been covering up.” Blaine said. He pulled a camera out of the satchel at his feet and started filming their approach as the boat continued towards the floating city with their previous momentum.

“It’s real.” Judson muttered. “A city. In the middle of the San Francisco Bay. A floating city. Fuck.”

“I told you, fucker.” Blaine was grinning. “This, this is going to prove once and for all the government is hiding shit from us. Shit we have the right to know about, man!”

“It’s… beautiful.” Sawyer’s brow furrowed. She was amazed by the sight in front of her. The gleaning spires, the lights, the sounds barely reaching her ears- there were people… _Were_ there people in the city? Or was it really some alien space ship?

“Row faster.” Blaine ordered. “I want to get in there and find out what these government fucks are hiding inside.” He stuffed the camera back in the satchel and started rowing with renewed strength.

“Uh, Blaine?” Eryn hedged shifting in the seat behind her. “Maybe we shouldn’t. You know. Go… _in_ the- the- that. You know.”

“Listen up pussy.” Blaine snarled leaning over Judson’s shoulder. “Get those fucking lily white hands on the oars and start with the rowing before I toss your ass into the Bay and hope to fucking _God_ you don’t get chomped on by sharks, mothafucker.”

That was enough to get Eryn moving. Water was not his friend, he didn’t eat fish- of any kind- and he certainly didn’t like open water. Not the ocean, or the sea, or river- he had _Jaws_ to thank for that.

It could happen.

“Judson.” Sawyer warned eyeing the city with a little frown.

“Bitch, I will toss your ass over too!” Blaine warned pulling on the oars. Sawyer glared at him. The guy was rude, crude and disrespectful not to mention a jack ass. It didn’t help, her blowing him off at the very first attempt to get in her pants. And it wasn’t that he was an awful looking guy because Blaine definitely had a super nice frame. He was tall, at least 6’ with an abundance of muscles- he’d made a point of showing off his six pack and the ripple of muscles down his back and arms. He just wasn’t her type, not that she had anything against blonds. It was criminals she didn’t find attractive. Or body builders.

“You and I.” Sawyer stated coldly. “We’re going to have this out once and for all and believe me when I tell you I’ll be the only one standing.”

“Alright.” Judson cut in blocking their view of each other. “Chill out, both of you. We found…” he let out a breath grinning as he glanced over his shoulder. “The _fucking Holy Grail_ , coz!”

Sawyer grabbed her head hunching over the oars. There was no doubt in her mind, her cousin was an idiot.

“An idiot.” She mumbled unintelligibly between her hands. A lucky idiot because not once had they been spotted by the Navy vessels and weren’t they supposed to have some sort of sonar? How the hell did four people in a damn row boat get past all that military technology?

It was ridiculous!

\----

“Oh- oh.”

Rodney turned around, eyebrows lowering as he saw the look on Zelenka’s face. Behind him hung a tangle of wires, testament of their attempts to put Atlantis to rights after their harsh landing and encounter with the Wraith.

“What?” he demanded eyeing Radek and the blacked out crystals in the compartment beside him.

“We may have a slight problem.” Radek said lifting a shoulder.

\----

“Where. The. Fuck. Are. We.” Eryn asked eyeing his surroundings while keeping as close to the group as he could without pissing off Blaine.

So far they’d been walking around in circles, at least Sawyer thought so but she wasn’t about to point that out to the jerk who’d appointed himself as their leader. Then again they _were_ walking around an alien ship… ‘alien’. Sawyer shook her head in wonder. Nobody in their right mind would ever believe her- any of them- because this just didn’t happen.

No way.

Yet there she was. Walking down some rusted looking corridor barely lit and not a soul around. Was there anyone there? Where they human? But they had to be didn’t they? The government wouldn’t allow aliens to land in the Bay let alone provide a Navy guard. Or would they? Or was this some weak show of strength to cow the aliens on the floating city?

They were aliens for pete’s sake! Aliens with a flying space ship the size of a small city that had some sort of cloaking device and more than likely had some major weapons on board. The Government goons were morons. Sometimes she wondered who the hell put them in charge and why when they messed up they didn’t get their necks stretched on a rope for killing a bunch of innocent- deluded- young men who thought they were fighting for some sort of ideal of freedom drilled into them in boot camp.

Axell had been the same way. Believed he was somehow saving the world…

“Everything looks the same.” Blaine muttered, blue eyes glaring at the corridor ahead of them.

“That just proves you're an idiot.” Sawyer said conversationally. She returned his glare with a smile and the foursome stopped. “About time.” She said as Blaine stepped towards her.

“Come on.” Judson stepped in front of Blaine, hands up. “Alien space ship and we are on it, man.” He jerked his head taking a step forward and reluctantly Blaine started walking again. He muttered under his breath, nothing flattering and when Sawyer made to follow Judson held her back.

“He’s an asshole.” Sawyer stated looking up at her cousin.

“Yeah.” Judson agreed with a nod and sigh. “I know and right now isn’t the time to go baiting him. You realize where we are?” he asked and she could see the awe light up his face. She nodded watching Eryn follow Blaine down the corridor with the camera aimed in front of him. Judson draped an arm around her shoulders and started walking drawing her along. “Besides,” he whispered bending close to her ear. “I promised Ax I'd watch your six. So you know I’ll have to step in when Blaine lifts a hand to you.”

“I can take him.” Sawyer glared not at all liking the fact her cousin felt the need to protect her and all because he’d promised Axell. What was wrong with men? She didn’t miss the ‘when’ either which meant Judson wouldn’t get in the way of her baiting…

“He’s twice your size, Sawyer. And he’s like, a hundred pounds heavier than you.” Judson scoffed eyeing his little cousin with amusement. To her, he looked as though they were all taking a stroll through the park. Not through an alien city space ship in the middle of the San Francisco Bay.

“Bigger just means stupid.” Sawyer stated sounding very sure. “And the falls gonna hurt more than his ego.”

“Krap.” Judson blew a breath out throwing his head back. He noticed the ceiling and the water marks along the metal. “I think this whole place spent some time under water.” He noted half turning, drawing Sawyer along with him. She looked up as well, the archeologist in her finally surfacing and re-taking an interest in where they were.

“Hey.” Blaine called from the end of the corridor. Both cousins hurried forward eyeing the double doors with curiosity. “Doors.”

“Genius.” Sawyer replied dryly moving past them to the metal doors. Judson dropped his arms to his sides shaking his head. She just wasn’t going to stop baiting Blaine however much he wished she would. The jerk had made a lasting impression on her, then again Blaine did try getting fresh with his cousin. Sawyer didn’t like the ‘touchy-feely’ type’s either.

“They’re closed for a reason.” Eryn said nervously. He eyed the group fidgeting with his sleeves, the camera temporarily forgotten. “Maybe it’s not safe to go that way. Maybe there’s a bunch of water back there or something…”

“Shut up and pick up the camera.” Blaine snapped swiping a heavy hand at Eryn’s head. He wasn’t about to go back and take the stairs. The thin guy hunched his shoulders wincing at the smack he received. He picked up the camera and turned it on the doors and Sawyer who stood in front of them ignoring the men. The copper headed wimp and the blond bully weren’t her concern. So long as Judson was in one piece and conscious everything would be fine. It had to be.

“What do you think these are for? More light?” Judson asked flicking a finger at the three lit crystals lined beside the doors. Sawyer raised her hand to stop him but was too late. The doors swished open startling them all but there was no wave of water crashing down on them. Just another corridor, poorly lit and just as rusted looking as the one they stood in.

“Open says me.” Judson said in a soft voice, eyebrows raised.

“Funny.” Sawyer glowered moving forward.

\----

McKay muttered under his breath just loud enough Zelenka could make out the complaints but he didn’t respond. It wouldn’t any good aside from both of them pausing in their work to verbally abuse each other. It was bad enough they’d inadvertently knocked the power out on the main land, explaining that had not been pleasant. Working with Rodney to get it fixed had been worse but they’d managed to put it right with only the occasional ‘accident’ cropping up.

But now…

“There.” Rodney straightened satisfied. “Fixed.”

“Yes, well…” Zelenka studied his tablet frowning. Seeing it, Rodney tried to peek over also frowning. He huffed an exasperated breath glancing at his own tablet and skipping through the diagrams of sections they’d been working on. Everything seemed in order and then he noticed the blinking section and cursed.

“Sheppard’s going to have-.”

 _“McKay.”_

Rodney sighed. He turned to Radek and pointed a finger. “It’s all your fault.”

\----

“So what- I mean how come no one can see this place?” Eryn asked glancing back at Judson and Sawyer. “You.” He pointed at Judson then glanced at Blaine. “You guys just disappeared.”

“Invisibility cloak.” Judson replied quickly.

“Invisibility…” Eryn echoed nodding as though it made sense and Judson was ‘Moses’ leading him to the promised land. Sawyer sighed shaking her head at the fools. How had they managed to stay out of jail?

“Not a cloak. You’ve been watching _Harry Potter_ again.” she accused Judson poking an elbow into his ribs. “It has to be some sort of shield.”

“Hey, the city’s invisible.” Judson protested drawing away from her. “So maybe it’s not a cloak, that’d be way too much material anyway-.” He ribbed but it was true. He loved the _Harry Potter_ movies. They were just fun.

“And you wonder why the family thought you were an idiot.” Sawyer sighed shaking her head as she followed the others.

“Did not.” Judson retorted making a face at her.

“Whatever it was its hiding this space ship and the best way to get people to believe us is to _show_ them.” Blaine said.

“Dude, they’re just gonna say we faked the video.” Eryn whined lowering the camera slightly. “Dead end.” He muttered turning to face the trio at his back.

“Fucking moron.” Blaine muttered moving past the cousins. “We make the invisibility shield go away. Turn it off or bust it somehow. It just has to stop working long enough so the people in San Francisco can see this.”

“Are you retarded? You get dropped on your head too much?” Sawyer snapped turning so the scones were at her back. “We start messing around with this space ship how far do you think the aliens are going to let you get before you're fried or get caught and- shit I don’t know but it has to be painful if not deadly.”

“Coz-.” Judson placed a restraining hand on her shoulder.

“No.” Sawyer snapped. “He wants to get himself killed, fine but I sure as hell am not going to follow him blindly and neither are you.”

“I'm getting pretty tired of your lip.” Blaine said turning to face her.

“There’s a simple solution to that.” Sawyer retorted trying to keep her cousin from butting in but he was persistent.

“Come on. Alien space ship-.” Judson tried deflecting the argument yet again but this time Blaine wasn’t having it.

“Yeah and I'm the man for the job.” Blaine swiped Judson’s hand away moving around to get in Sawyer’s face. Judson bumped into the scones on the wall frowning when it made a chiming sound.

“You don’t qualify.”

“You wont say that when I have you on your knees-.”

Judson turned back to the argument ignoring the fading note in favor of protecting his cousin.

“What, you're going to hand me a map and spyglass to find that itsy bitty thing?” Sawyer taunted with a smirk dropping a quick glance at his pants.

“Whoa!” Judson shoved himself in front of Sawyer as Blaine rushed forward anger blazing in his eyes. It was like trying to stop a wrecking ball once you got it swinging at the brick wall. Blaine hit Judson, his momentum knocking him into Sawyer. Judson tried to stop himself from crushing his little cousin against the wall behind them and made a grab for one of the light scones. His fingers missed, his palm slapping against the metal wall. All he heard was Sawyer’s yelp and then Eryn was cursing turning the camera every which way.

“Sawyer!” Judson yelled turning around but his cousin was gone. There was the wall but no feisty little cousin. She was just gone, disappeared. “Sawyer!” he slapped both hands on the wall, at least that’s what he intended. Judson found himself sinking onto the wall and then he was through before he could properly yell in panic. He stumbled, landing on hands and knees in another room, a room behind a ‘solid’ wall. “What. The. Fuck.”

“It’s a secret room.” Sawyer said carefully walking around the room. “A lab, at least I think it might be.” She stopped at the computer, a Dell and frowned. “What…?”

Aliens were using Dell laptops?

Looking closer, Sawyer paid attention to the flickering pattern flowing through the screen not recognizing the language- if it was even that. Nor were there any numbers, not in any of the languages she knew because those weren’t part of the computer’s normal programming.

“What’s that?” Judson asked from over her shoulder. The flowing pattern grabbed his attention but his cousin moved in front of it.

“Got me.” Sawyer shrugged but she couldn’t help a second glance. She shook her head frowning- it wasn’t familiar because she’d never seen alien writing before.

“You’ve got the minor in Computers. And that definitely looks like a computer. A…Dell?” Judson eyed the laptop in confusion poking at the screen to make sure he wasn’t just seeing things.

“You're the hacker. You figure this out.” Sawyer said stepping aside.

“This isn’t- its not…” Judson let out a huff of breath. “What the fuck are aliens doing using a Dell?” he demanded with annoyance. He stood glaring down at the lap top, hands resting on his hips.

“They don’t like Macs?” Sawyer proposed with a shrug of her shoulder.

“Funny.” Judson retorted barely sparing her a glance. Sawyer went back to exploring the lab, curiosity got the best of her and she reached out tentatively to touch some sort of gizmo on the table in front of her. She tapped her finger over it but nothing happened so she picked it up and studied it, turning it over. She found the symbols rather interesting and reminiscent of ancient Egyptian symbols though much more elegant.

 _“Stay where you are.”_

Both jumped, startled by the voice in the room.  Sawyer almost dropped the gizmo in her hands, brown eyes flicking towards Judson. He stood with both hands raised, held away from the lap top.

“What the hell?” Judson glanced at his cousin who shook her head still looking around the room for the source of the voice.

 _“You are in a secure area. Do not move.”_

“Figures.” Sawyer scowled. It was all Blaine’s fault. The retard had gotten them in this mess and all because he’d seen that stupid vid on the net.

“The aliens speak English?” Judson asked looking confused while slowly dropping his arms.

“We are so screwed.” Sawyer assured. “Why don’t you ever listen to me?” she demanded with a scowl.

“Hey,” but there was nothing he could reply with. She _had_ told them to go back but he’d been excited by the idea there could have been a flying saucer or some government cover up going on in the Bay. His eyes strayed to the faint green glow in her hand and pointed.

“Let’s go.” Sawyer slipped the funky gizmo into the inside jacket pocket barely noticing the faint green glow it gave off. They moved towards the wall, it looked solid enough but when she put her hand through it disappeared. Closing her eyes she threw herself into the wall stumbling out the other side. She blinked, looked around but there was no one in the corridor.

“Whoa. That’s…” Judson shook himself then frowned as he came out behind her. “Where’s Blaine? And Eryn.” He asked half turning in the corridor. It still looked the same except they were missing two.

“Maybe we came out in a different corridor?” Sawyer wondered though she wasn’t sure they had but they _were_ in an alien space ship. Strange things were bound to happen.

“It looks the same to me.” He replied frowning.

“They all looked the same.” She retorted stepping to her cousin’s side at his frown.

“Son of a bitch.” Judson growled. “They went back to the boat.”

“Wha-. You don’t- damn it.” Sawyer turned to the end of the corridor and along with her cousin started running as the same thought occurred to her.

“I swear, if that bastard left us…” Judson said on a breath.

“I'm kicking his ass.” Sawyer answered turning the corner and heading towards the doors they’d opened.

“I’ll lend a hand.” Judson agreed.

“Stop!”

Both Judson and Sawyer slid to a stop just past the doors. In front of them stood four men with automatic weapons pointed right at them. Sawyer thought their uniforms looked familiar, like the one’s her brother was wearing in some of the pictures he’d sent her. Same style only these were black and then they pulled out a funny shaped gun, four of them pointed at her cousin and her.

“Stay right there!”

Both Judson and Sawyer turned to each other mouths opening. As one they started running but Judson had the longer stride and Sawyer fell behind him.

“Stop!” one of the soldiers shouted but neither cousin listened. As Judson looked back reaching for her hand one of the soldiers fired the funny space weapon at them.

“Sawyer!” he warned as the blue light zapped his cousins back. She stumbled toward him, a green light spread out from her back only to fade out just as quickly. “Whoa-.”

“Run!” Sawyer gasped as she caught herself on the wall and pushed herself to keep going.

“What-what-what-.” He stammered slowing down.

“RUN!” Sawyer yelled shoving him forward. Both stumbled but managed to get around the next pillar in the corridor. They ran as fast as they could with Judson glancing over his shoulder to see how far the soldiers were.

“Duck!” Judson yanked her arm hunching as another blast of light went over their heads.

“Doors!” Sawyer pointed. “Get to the doors!”

They made a mad dash for them with Judson banging into the metal so it echoed. They swooshed open with Sawyer smacking into her cousin. Both fell in, immediately scrambling to opposite corners as more blue-white lights were shot at them. The doors swished closed and a panel slid open along the back wall.

“What’s that?” Judson pointed at the screen pushing to his feet and standing.

“Aliens!” Sawyer slapped her palms onto his chest shoving him against the wall. “Did they look like aliens, Judson! Did they? Because they sure as hell look more like soldiers than aliens!” she yelled.

“Blaine said they were aliens!” Judson yelled defensively. “I just-.”

“Went along with it! You couldn’t listen to me-.” Sawyer threw both hands up. As they came down she hit the lit screen and a bright light surrounded them. Judson couldn’t hold in the frightened yell.

“Aaaahh! What was that!” Judson yelled uncovering his eyes, both jumped as the doors swished open into a brightly lit corridor the cousins could only stare at.

\----

“Civilians.” John growled striding through the control room. “I have civilians on Atlantis.”

“Yes, I know.” Rodney replied in a voice laden with disgust.

“There shouldn’t be any civilians on Atlantis.”

“I _know._ ” Rodney repeated

 _“Lorne.”_ John snapped tapping his ear comm.

 _“Sir.”_

 _“Get a team prepped.”_ John ordered moving off with Rodney at his side. “I'm not even going to ask-.”

“Zelenka and I were trying to minimize the power emitted from the grid in the sections damaged by the Wraith Hive Ship. We had no idea the city’s sensors would be temporarily-.”

“Temporary, Rodney?” John echoed. “We almost lost the cloak last time you and Radek started messing around down there-.”

“We were trying to fix-.”

“Not to mention the city black out the first time-.”

“It was an accident-.”

“The Navy couldn’t get any of their instruments to work!”

“Hey.” Ronon stepped aside as they rounded a corner. The big Satedan fell in step with them, his gun held nonchalantly at his side.

“Aren't you supposed to be resting?” John asked eyeing Ronon suspiciously.

“I'm rested.” Ronon replied blank faced and walking without a hitch in his step. He’d been up for the past three days, ever since they arrived on Earth refusing to stay cooped up like an invalid.

“He’s lucky Jennifer let him out of the infirmary.” Rodney said. “He’s not even supposed to be up.”

“You know, if you hurt yourself, Dr. Keller’s going to lock you in the infirmary.” John noted with a slight smirk.

“Problem?” Ronon asked John though his eyes were on Rodney who opened his mouth to say it wasn’t his fault. Again.

“The sensors picked up four life signs.” John replied before Rodney could get a word in.

“So…” Ronon shrugged.

“They’re unregistered and aren't supposed to be here.” Rodney replied in a tone that said it should be obvious. “Look, we don’t even know if they’re a threat to the city-.”

 _“Lt.”_

 _“Go ahead.”_ John stopped in the corridor eyes straying to Rodney.

 _“Sir, we made contact with two of the civilians. They got in a transporter.”_

“Damn.” John muttered frowning.

 _“They could be anywhere, sir.”_

“Not anywhere.” Rodney grumbled flicking his fingers over the tablet he was carrying. “A-ha.” He smirked turning the screen for them to see. John scowled as he saw the intruders cautiously step out of the transporter and into the corridor.

 _“Get to level 7.”_ John ordered. “They’re heading to the brig.”

\----

Ronon was the first out of the transporter, his gun set to stun. He had no trouble locating the intruders; all he had to do was follow the stun blasts along the corridor. He could hear them, the soldiers calling orders. He winced, glowering but didn’t stop. His side still bothered him, lucky as he was to still live; he wasn’t going to spend any time on his back, not in a hospital, anyway.

 _“Duck!”_

 _“Go left!”_

Ronon turned the corner and aimed at the group. He hesitated seeing a man and woman fighting off five SG Soldiers. One was taken down by a kick to the head courtesy of the big male. A second doubled over as the woman placed her knee in his groin and an elbow between his shoulder blades. She was shot with the stunner, her body suffused in a green glow. She didn’t get a chance to retaliate as the male kicked the stunner out of the soldier’s hand.

“Quit getting in my way!” she yelled.

“Watch my six!” the male ordered while grappling with the soldier.

Ronon watched them, a sad smile tugging at his lips. He could almost pretend he was on Sateda, rabble rousing with his friends…

\----

Sawyer faced the soldier, moving within his reach before he could fire the funky weapon. (Well, shoot _her_ , anyway.) The blast spread along the wall in the corridor not far from her cousin and the soldiers he was fighting with. He was lucky not to get hit.

As for her, she tried to block the fist coming at her but she was too slow. Sawyer flinched, her eyes closing as she turned her head away but there wasn’t any pain. Just a green flash behind her lids and the hissing sound of the soldier as he pulled away. It wasn’t the first time.

Lucky. Maybe _she_ was the lucky one, the reason they made it through the Navy boats and their quarantine…

 _‘Explain the soldiers shooting you guys, genius.’_

“Not lucky.” Sawyer grumbled. She kicked the soldier, her foot planting firmly in the center of his vest. It knocked him back and she quickly grabbed the front of his vest yanking him towards her.

 _Take no enemies, give no quarter – but don’t kill anyone._

Words to live by according to Axell, because in a fight the other guy _always_ had to go down.

Sawyer followed through with an elbow strike, watching as blood spurted from the soldier’s nose.

“Fuck-!”

Sawyer turned, her cousin doubled over, an arm raised to block a punch but he couldn’t stop the kick to his leg which put him on his knees between the two soldiers.

“Jud!” she just moved and hoped Judson wouldn’t try and roll away from them. She pushed off the floor watching as the soldier aimed the funky toy gun. Her sneakers sole stuck to Judson’s t-shirt. She used him as a step, her right leg extending and her heel made contact as the soldier re-directed his weapon. She had a lot of forward momentum which took her over Judson’s broad back. The soldier was down; hopefully he’d stay that way so they could start running again.

Sawyer landed on her feet facing the metal wall. She turned and found the toy aimed at her. There wasn’t anywhere to run, not quick enough to avoid the blast coming at her. It was just a blur of light; the impact shoved her back, her arm bumping into the wall. That was it, no pain, no death, no blood and guts. Just another flash of green light… and Judson rising like some angry sea god-

“No.”

But Judson didn’t hear anything. He tackled the soldier, both of them slamming into the wall. He had his hand on the weapon, the black toy laser gun, only it wasn’t a toy. It really worked- only not so well. Still, Judson kept a death grip on the soldier’s wrist slamming the gun against the wall until he dropped it.

“Judson!” she grabbed onto his shirt knowing they could get behind the next set of doors and hopefully gain some space if only Judson would get a move on. He rammed the soldier into the wall again yanking him around. The soldier landed on the ground gasping for breath but before the cousins could start running again another group of soldiers arrived.

“Shit.”

“Forget it. Run!” Sawyer yanked on his arm, her eyes passing over the tall guy in dreds. _He_ wasn’t dressed in military uniform and his hair certainly wasn’t part of any military uniform she was aware of and there had been plenty she’d seen thanks to Axell and his buddy’s. And the gun- it looked as big as a sawed off shotgun-was aimed at them along with a scowl.

 _‘Oh this is bad.’_ Sawyer thought with a soft groan. The whole thing was a bad idea from the start, she’d said as much to Judson but would the idiot listen to her?

Of course not.

Dred-head fired.

She felt the red blast, a slight tingling along her skin even under her layers of clothes. Judson caught her, Sawyer’s body glowed green again but he wasn’t paying it much attention. The big ‘alien’ had shot his cousin, at both of them. Everyone was shooting at them! And why? Not one of the soldiers had followed the commanded ‘Stop!’ with anything other than pointed weapons. Then they’d aimed those laser guns- _laser guns!_ Who _wouldn’t_ turn tail and run?

Ronon shot again without effect. The female was still conscious, somehow and shielding the male. He ran towards them firing again and again. Sawyer felt each impact, the muted force kept pushing her into Judson and both were forced to retreat.

\-----

 _“Rodney!”_ Sheppard called yet again from his comm.

 _“I need another minute!”_ McKay snapped but John was feet away from the two intruders about to reach the brig and his prisoner.

 _“We don’t have a minute! Get those doors locked!”_ John ordered running after Ronon. He recognized the green light immediately and cursed under his breath. _“What else did you find in Janus’ lab?”_

 _“What?”_

 _“The lab, Rodney. Did you find any personal shields? Yes or No?”_

 _“Well,”_

 _“Damn it!”_ John took that as confirmation but then again the woman was glowing green with every one of Ronon’s blasts. The question now became, did she _know_.

\----

“NO.” Sawyer wasn’t stronger than her big cousin. “Judson stay beh-!” He easily pushed her aside as another red burst of light hit her. She stumbled and the next blast got Judson full on. “No!”

Sawyer stumbled under the continued blasts but her eyes were glued on Judson as he fell face first on the ground. He lay still, not moving, not even a twitch and then his killer was close enough to strike at her.

\----

John ran after Ronon, the soldiers at his heels but he could see the doors open behind the girl. Questions raced through his mind, who where they, what where they doing on Atlantis, who’d sent them, who were they working for, and a million other things.

She was fighting back, the personal shield glowing with every one of Ronon’s hits which had to be hurting the big Satedan.

 _“Got it!”_

John reached a hand out as the brig door slid shut, the rest of his body banged into the metal which hurt.

 _“Rodney!”_

 _“What? I locked the doors!”_

 _“Open them!”_ John demanded.

\----

“You killed him!” Sawyer yelled trying to block and hit at the same time only to be forced back. Her attacker didn’t reply. She could see it hurt him, each time he hit her. It gave her little satisfaction and then the doors swished open again. She glimpsed a group of soldiers entering; all of them had to be armed. Sawyer ducked under a swing one hand slapping the gun over her head while she punched at his exposed side. He gave a great yell, all pain and dropped to his knees, the gun sliding out of his hand. Sawyer was surprised, even glanced at her fist noting the red stain on her knuckles. She gasped a breath, her eyes wide. She didn’t understand how she’d drawn blood without a weapon; she’d never had that happen before.

“Ronon!”

Sawyer jerked towards the door, her arms coming up to block the array of blasts from the laser guns. For a moment all she could see was the green flash behind her closed eyes.

“Drop the shield!” John ordered the soldier to his left as he fired another blast from the stunner. Behind the girl the shield faded. Ronon half rose, both hands shoving the girl into the brig. She stumbled and fell down but she was caught.

The shield went up as she scrambled to get up.

“A meal.” Todd smirked eyeing the girl on the floor.

Sawyer yelled. She jumped to her feet running towards the soldiers, her eyes never leaving the thing in the gray jump suit. She preferred the soldiers to that, whatever it was. The bright flash almost blinded her and blinking to get the starts out of her eyes Sawyer found herself lying on her side on the floor again. Nothing hurt; she didn’t feel anything was broken. She hadn’t felt when she’d fallen and then it was looking down at her.

Todd tilted his head, a smile lifting his lips and the girl was scrambling on her ass towards the farthest wall from him as the cell would allow.

“Todd.” John warned as he knelt beside Ronon. The Wraith turned towards them watching as two soldiers lifted the Satedan male and took him away.

“You’ve changed your mind.” Todd said.

“No.” John retorted. “I haven't and you aren't eating a human.”

Sawyer stayed in her corner eyeing them both. Her heart was pounding and she was sure they could hear it.

“What-what-what-.” Sawyer drew in a breath and let it out slowly trying to make her mouth stop its repeat and make sense. “Let me out of here.”

“Let?” John scoffed moving so he stood just a breath from the shield. “You've hurt military personnel, broke into a top secret military facility, stole military technology and you want me to _let_ you out.” He shook his head.

“Your soldiers shot at us!” Sawyer reproached loudly. “That- that- he killed my cousin!” she yelled getting up.

“Killed- he’s not dead.” John assured watching the girl- the woman, take a step towards the shield only to look at Todd again with more than a little fear.

“You're lying.”

“Am not.” John retorted with a glare. “I’m-.”

“No? Then I'm not on a space ship? I'm not in a cell with some- alien!” Sawyer demanded eyeing Todd and trying not to flinch every time he moved.

John frowned, his eyes darting over to Todd but the Wraith tilted his head waiting for his response.

“You're on a military ship-.”

“Right.” Sawyer cut in, disgust coloring her words. “Liar.” She said again.

“You can eat her.” John said to Todd with a glare for her. She took a step away from the alien eyeing them both.

“I am hungry.” Todd said taking a step towards her. She squeaked in alarm, dark eyes going wide as she backed away. “Very hungry.”

“Tell me what you're doing here? What you're after? Who sent you?” John demanded as Todd got closer.

“You can’t do this!” Sawyer yelled moving towards the corner. Her hand touched the shield and again it emitted a bright light but it didn’t hurt her.

“Answer my questions.” John demanded hoping Todd would take his time and scare the girl into telling them what the four intruders were doing on Atlantis.

“Let me out!” Sawyer smacked Todd’s hand away repelled by the pasty color. She’d noticed the gaping hole in his palm and though she tried moving further back the wall wouldn’t allow it. “No! Make it stop!”

Todd grunted as his hands met a solid force. It stung his hand and realizing his food was effectively out of his reach he turned with a snarl towards John.

Sawyer thought her heart would jump out of her chest as hard as it was pounding against her ribs.

John shrugged at the Wraith’s glare knowing there was no way he could harm her while she had the personal shield.

Todd grunted at the sudden pain in his side. Felt his legs give and then he was laid out face down on the ground.

John let out a frustrated breath as the girl ran to the opposite end of the cell a _fter_ she dropped him _._

“I want out.” Sawyer demanded growing angry. She was still scared but the alien couldn’t touch her so he couldn’t eat her. She’d figure out the why after they let her out-

“Who sent you?” John asked again.

“Wha-nobody! Now let me out!” Sawyer yelled smacking her hand on the bars. She yelped, taking a step back as the light fizzled and she was engulfed in the same green glow she’d noticed before. “What-?”

“Damn it.” John grumbled under his breath watching the girl. She was starting to understand what it was she’d stolen and he couldn’t afford for her to do that. “Someone sent you. Now tell me what the hell you're doing here?” he demanded.

“Are you deaf as well as stupid?” Sawyer glared. “I told you! No one sent us; we’re not working for anyone-.”

“Fine! You can keep Todd company until you're ready to start talking!” John ignored her yelling and walked out.

\----

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Lorne asked stopping in front of the cell.

“I aint saying shit.” The tall hulking blond snarled. “Get me a fucking lawyer.”

“Your name.” Lorne snapped making sure they could both see and hear his P-90 as he shifted it.

“Eryn!” the little one squeaked. “My name’s Eryn Hutchins.”

“Shut the hell up!” the big one ordered.

“But he’s got a gun and we’re locked in a cell.” Eryn whined shuffling away from the angry scowl walking towards him.

“What were you doing-.”

“I said get us a lawyer!” the blond yelled turning on Lorne again. “We aint saying shit else until you do. Now go fetch, soldier boy.”

Lorne stared at the civilian caged in the ancient’s cell. Right then he wished Todd had been locked in this one. He was positive the big jack ass would be pissing himself at sight of the Wraith.

“Sure.” Lorne smirked. He turned around and left hoping that Sheppard would agree to the scare tactics he was about to employ.

\----

“I take it this isn’t good.” Zelenka noted as he watched Rodney move from one work station to another.

“Oh I don’t know. Having _four_ civilians on an alien space ship that’s technically not even-.”

“What do you have?” John snapped striding into the lab. Radek stepped out of the way and kept quiet leaving Rodney to deal with an annoyed Sheppard.

“Video of them entering _Atlantis_ and…” he clicked a few keys and stood back smiling. “Inside the lab.”

They watched as the girl fell through the fake wall, watched her sit up and look around. She stood and moved towards the computers when the dark haired male fell face first into the secret lab. She barely glanced at him before continuing her exploration of the lab. The male got up and stared in surprise around himself-

“Where’s the sound, McKay?” Sheppard asked frowning.

“Oh. Well we weren’t-.”

“Never mind.” Sheppard sighed and turned back watching as the girl took one of the personal shields. She put it in her pocket and then they both ran out. “Great.”

“You think she’s a spy?” Rodney asked.

\----

Lorne strode into Todd’s cell with five soldiers at his back. They were going to take the Wraith and scare some answers out of the other two civilians. He was a little surprised Sheppard had allowed him to do it but he wasn’t going to question his reasons.

He stopped abruptly, stared into the cell hoping something was terribly wrong with his eyes-

“Evan?”

The soldiers frowned, furtively glanced at each other wondering how she’d know his name. The expression on Lorne was comical enough but they held in their snickers.

“What are you doing here?” Lorne asked. Sawyer stood, brown eyes glaring at him. Ignoring the black clad soldiers at his back she took in his own uniform and the weapon he held.

“What are _you_ doing _here_?” she echoed, hands on her hips. She almost added ‘alien spaceship’ but managed to bite the words back and then she wondered what kind of luck the Lady was giving her.

“Krap.” Lorne sighed, closing his eyes.

\----

Sheppard, Teyla, Rodney and Mr. Woolsey stared at Lorne.

“You know her.” John repeated again.

“Yes sir.” Lorne nodded.

“How- yeah, how?” Rodney demanded leaning towards the Lt.

“Through her brother.” Lorne answered. “He was part of the SGC, a member of SG-9. We went through basic training together.” He explained keeping himself stiff and at attention.

“Her _brother_ was SGC?” John questioned thinking it could only get worse. Not only was she a civilian but now she also had ties to the SGC and the entire program.

“Was, so he isn’t anymore?” Rodney asked.

“He died off world.” Lorne replied tightly. The news had reached him months later and there had been no way to send his condolences to Sawyer. He’d spent a lot of time with the siblings and had been a bit envious of their closeness. Loosing Axell would have been a harsh blow for Sawyer to withstand and apparently she was focusing on being angry with the military.

“You believe she’s here because of her brother?” Teyla asked glancing at Mr. Woolsey. “That she somehow learned-.”

“That’s not possible.” Rodney cut in. “Nobody knows we’re here! Not the regular people, anyway.” He amended shifting uncomfortably and glancing around the conference room.

“Be that as it may. The fact remains there _are_ four unauthorized civilians on _Atlantis_.” Mr. Woolsey said. “I think we should find out more about this girl and her conspirators.”

\----

Lorne strode into the holding cell behind Sheppard. Their presence barely registered to the young woman sitting on the floor. Eyes firmly staring at a spot between her feet while the buzz of music sounded from the plugs in her ears. Her head nodded slightly in beat to what she heard and Lorne wondered if she really didn’t know they were there.

The shield dropped allowing John to enter but even as his feet intruded her line of sight she didn’t acknowledge them. John frowned; he was more than just a little annoyed civilians had snuck onto Atlantis, on _his_ watch. He was still blaming it on Rodney- him and Zelenka both for playing with the city’s sensors which is why he was standing in the cell they’d put the girl in, or rather the one she’d put herself into. The other one was still out cold, Dr. Keller said it might be a few hours still and the other two- well one just had to be a conspiracy nut, the little one just blubbered.

Nobody was supposed to know Atlantis was sitting in the San Francisco Bay, yet here was this girl-.

 _‘Nope, a young woman, not a girl- even though she looks it.’_

His eyes traveled over her again, the faded bluish-gray military styled jacket, a turquoise zippered hoodie beneath it covering the blue plaid shirt she was wearing. Her black pants were slim fitting; the material had a soft shine to it. John cleared his throat loudly but the young woman was stubborn. Finally, he tapped the white tipped sneaker with his standard issue boot. She raised her eyes glaring at him through the inky strands not pinned away from her face. He didn’t see where she got off being angry at them; _they_ hadn’t snuck into their space ship. Of course if she had one then it would most likely get confiscated by the US government…

Sawyer clenched her teeth. No matter what, she wouldn’t say a word. Not one word, she vowed.

John raised his hands motioning to his ears that she should remove the headphones. An annoyed glare from the pretty brown eyes encompassed them both but she plucked out the ear buds.

“Sawyer Guerra, age 24. Graduated high school at 16 and earned a full ride. Minored in Computer Science, got your Masters in Languages and a Doctorate in Archeology.” John said without preamble. It got her to stand up, brown eyes flashing anger that turned to accuse Lorne.

“Axell Guerra, Captain in the US AirForce-.”

“Yeah, you got some information. Great, whoopdi-doo.” Sawyer snapped sarcastically, unable to keep silent. “ _Google_ could’ve answered you just as well as Evan.” Her accusing gaze rested on him but Lorne kept silent and stiff.

“What are you doing here?” Sheppard asked crossing his arms.

“Sitting in a cell.” Sawyer replied. “Cant you tell?”

Sheppard was not amused by her smart ass remarks and he was getting tired of it. He wondered what it was about smart people that made them such pains in the asses. John grumbled inwardly because apparently his intimidating stare wasn’t going to cut it with her.

“Sawyer-.”

“Traitor.” She snapped at Lorne moving away from them both. She’d told herself not to say a word and there she was…

“You screwed up.” Lorne stated, his tone a lot more serious than Sawyer had ever heard it. She hesitated only a moment, enough for John and Lorne to take note.

“So, what? You're going to pretend my cousin never set foot on this ship? You obviously know what’s left of our family won’t be asking questions about us disappearing.” She looked at Sheppard, anger boiling in her gut at her own stupidity, for following Judson and letting him go along with the stupid conspiracy nut. “Figures I’d end up in a box.”

John felt just a little guilt eat away at his annoyance for keeping her in the dark. They’d already figured out they weren’t working for the NID as they’d first assumed. Neither of them worked for anyone. It was just a bunch of people on a little adventure. One that just happened to be true…

“Your cousin is fine.” Sheppard stated dropping his crossed arms. “He should be awake soon. You can speak to him then.”

John could see from her expression what he’d read about her was true. Even if her attitude hadn’t been clear about her dislike for anything military. He wondered if it were because of her brother’s death.  The file with her name had contained a stack of letters, each one a little less polite than its predecessor until she fell just short of an actual ‘...or else…’ She wanted answers only it was all classified, need-to-know and above her pay grade, as in she had none. That had been her choice. John had been more surprised to know she’d been contacted by MENSA and she’d turned them down as well. She’d been offered a position at the Smithsonian which she turned down. There was interest in her from various private funders to head up a couple archeological sites and she turned them too. John didn’t get it. The woman had the experience for any of those positions but she… what the hell were her reasons?

“What are you doing here?” John asked yet again. He really couldn’t understand what she’d been thinking to turn down- hell; she’d thrown away a brilliant career even before she’d started.

“Twirling my thumbs.” Sawyer retorted.

 _‘Great. Another smart ass.’_ John noted.

“You took some military technology.” He snapped. “I want it back.”

Sawyer reached into her jacket, the personal shield glowing in her palm, waiting for him to take it. John’s eyes locked into it wanting badly for the girl-the woman, for the woman to hand it over.

“Well…” she said, an inky eyebrow arching- almost mocking, when he didn’t take it from her outstretched hand. She shrugged and slipped it back into her jacket pocket.

John grit his teeth, his jaw clenching with annoyance. She’d obviously figured out they couldn’t take it from her.

“You don’t understand-.”

“Oh, I think I do.” Sawyer cut Evan off, turning hard brown eyes on her brother’s so called friend. She hadn’t forgotten the absent faces at her brother’s gravesite and ‘secret mission status’ was NOT an excuse.

“You're not leaving here with it.” John stated. The only response was the slight narrowing of her eyes.

“Sawyer,” Lorne drew her attention. “That’s not a toy.”

She pursed her lips and they both knew she was close to an eye roll. Instead, Sawyer Guerra retrieved a small brown plastic bag from the other pocket. As far as she was concerned they had nothing important to say or worth the effort it would take for her to process the words coming out of their mouths…

“That’s an advanced piece of technology-.” John and Lorne watched as she popped a gummy bear into her mouth and chewed.

“How did you do that?” Lorne questioned stepping around John. Both soldiers were looking at her as though she’d just sprouted a third eye. Sawyer put another gummy bear into her mouth and chewed. “How-.”

“So you're blind now?” Sawyer retorted.

That was the other interesting thing in her file. One of the reasons Capt. Guerra had been requested for the Atlantis expedition, the fact he carried the ATA gene. But the offer had been turned down. John wondered again what it was with the siblings. Because turning down government job offers couldn’t be smart career moves.

“Don’t mess around, Sawyer.” Evan warned. She took a step towards them, too close and Sheppard gripped his weapon while Lorne frowned at her. “Now take it off and hand it over.”

“Make me.” Sawyer demanded.

“What, are we five years old now?” Sheppard scowled. “You are in plenty of trouble already so make things easier by-.”

“Here’s what _I_ know.” Sawyer cut him off, eyeing them both as she counted on her fingers. “One, I'm on a spaceship.” She shook her head at John’s slightly open mouth because no excuse was going to make it any less true let alone convince her otherwise. “Two, I’ve been shot at by US soldiers with laser guns. That big- whoever- shot my cousin and until I see him I'm not buying your BS, Evan.” She held up both hands stalling whatever they were about to say. “Three, this ‘toy’ is going to protect me from your trigger happy soldier boys. And, since you obviously didn’t take it when I held it out for you, means you _can’t._ ”

 _‘Why do I always have to deal with the smart ass brainiacs?’_ John glared annoyed and frustrated.

“So, you're going to keep me locked in because you _think_ you can.” Sawyer wasn’t sure how she’d be getting herself out of the cell but making them think she could was a plus. She focused on John. “I want my cousin. Here. Maybe then I’ll think of giving up your toy.”

Lorne went stiff hearing the taunting tone in her voice. He noticed the assessing look she passed over them, lingering on their weapons just a little too long. He remembered teaching her how to shoot the last time they’d all gone camping. She was a quick study and they’d teased her about being a good soldier already which had earned them glowering looks until she threatened to plug them with extra holes. Axell had warned Evan she was close to doing it, noting the look in her brown eyes.

“Look, it’s a dangerous piece of technology.” John growled taking another step towards her.

“Whatever you say.” Sawyer shrugged and backed up. She leaned on the wall before sliding down to sit on the floor. They watched her put the earphones in and the music started to hiss.

Sheppard glared down at her, his hands twitched, wanting to grab the damn things out of her ears and make her listen to reason. Instead, he did an about face and stomped off with Lorne following a moment later.

\----

“She couldn’t!” Rodney exclaimed. His eyes flicked wildly about the room, from each person sitting around the table. “That’s not possible!”

“She ate a gummy bear.” John repeated through clenched teeth. He was beyond irritated with the woman. Hell, he was down right pissed by her attitude and the apparent unconcern for the seriousness of her situation.

“But… well, how?” Radek questioned. All eyes wandered to Rodney whose face had gone a deep red. They remembered clearly his inability to eat or drink while in possession of the shield and had it not been for the entity that drained its power Rodney would likely have died.

“We know she has the ATA gene. So does the unconscious male.” Dr. Keller flicked her glance from Woolsey to Sheppard and back.

“With her background and her brother already part of the SGC why isn’t she part of it?” Radek questioned, his brow furrowed.

“She refused.” Mr. Woolsey answered drawing everyone’s attention.

“Excuse me.” Rodney stiffened in his chair. “Refused? As in she said ‘No’?”

“That’s what refused means.” Sheppard grumbled though he was curious as to her reasons and maybe Woolsey would have the answer. “Why did she?”

“Uh ,well, apparently she found it…uh, distasteful.” Woolsey said. “Her brother had recently died when we approached her with the offer. Bad timing.” He looked rather uncomfortable. “In any event, the IOA has, uh, asked that I present the offer again.”

“What!” Rodney exclaimed half rising from his chair. “She broke into _Atlantis_ and now she’s being offered a job? A second time!”

“Exactly.” Woolsey answered.

\----

Judson woke to a pounding headache. He slapped both hands onto his head wincing at the contact and cursing the hangover.

“How do you feel?”

Judson sat up, his eyes locking onto the redhead standing within arms reach of his bed.

 _‘Not my bed!’_ Judson realized with a shock also noticing the unfamiliar surroundings and people-.

“Where the hell am I?” he demanded wincing as his head took up the beating drum again.

“In the infirmary.” She answered placing a gentle hand on his arm. “Now, do you feel nauseous?”

“No.” Judson replied shortly and clamped his lips shut because he wasn’t about to upchuck on the redhead. She was kinda cute…

“How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Two.” He bit through clenched teeth.

“Ok.” She turned away fiddling with something on the tray. “I’ll give you something for the headache.”

“No thanks.” Judson waved a hand but she ignored him and pressed the little silver gun on his arm. “What…?” he blinked feeling the coolness spread over his skin and disappear. “Huh.”

“Much better?” she smiled. Judson nodded realizing his head wasn’t beating like a jungle drum anymore.

“Sawyer!” he exclaimed suddenly, remembering the soldiers and the laser guns and the big guy with dreds-. “Where is she? Where’s my cousin?” he demanded slipping off the medical bed and towering over the doctor.

“Stand down.”

Judson turned to the new voice, a dark haired man with a scowl dressed in black fatigues. And standing next to him, favoring his side was dred head.

“You!” Judson snarled taking a menacing step in his direction.

“Don’t make me shoot you.” The black clad soldier warned pointing the funky laser gun at him. It stopped Judson. “Good.”

“Sawyer.” Judson ground past his clenched jaw.

“Is sitting in a cell waiting for you.” Was the answer. “I'm Lt. Col. John Sheppard. That’s Dr. Jennifer Keller and this Ronon Dex.” John made the introductions and slowly lowered his zat.

“I'm gonna kill that asshole.” Judson grumbled under his breath. He could almost hear Sawyer telling him Blaine was an idiot and he was no better. All they’d done was get in a shitload of trouble.

“Let’s wait on that.” Sheppard proposed. “Come on.” He stepped aside and let Judson take the lead while Ronon was held back by Jennifer.

\----

“My brother was part of the StarGate program.” Sawyer echoed. They hadn't let her out of her cage and she still had the personal shield. She wasn’t sure if this was some new tactic to get her to give it up but she wasn’t falling for it. Suspicion was her only ally and weapon at the moment and she wasn’t willing to give it up.

“He participated in off-world missions. Travelled to different planets in the galaxy on various assignments.” Mr. Woolsey explained. “I apologize for our timing but we were unaware of Captain Guerra’s state at the time-.”

“Dead.” Sawyer snarled. “My brother was dead.”

“I apologize.”

“Stop with the ‘I’m sorry’! I don’t need apologies.” Sawyer exclaimed. She stood and paced the length of her cage refusing to look at the bald guy offering her a job. A job! One she’d refused already-. What was wrong with them?

 _‘What’s wrong with me? Why am I even considering this?’_

Because she was. Sawyer was seriously thinking of saying ‘Yes’, of leaving it all behind to go who knew where for a government that- well, they didn’t really give a shit about her, just what she could do.

“Ah…” Woolsey stood up as the doors swished open and Sheppard came in with Judson. “I’ll leave you to think on it, Ms. Guerra.”

“Judson!” Sawyer exclaimed, relief flooded through her followed by an uncontrollable urge to cry. She hadn't really believed Sheppard and even when Lorne had assured her the big dummy wasn’t dead she’d doubted.

“I thought you were dead.” Judson mumbled into her shoulder as he swept her into a bear hug.

“I thought _you_ were dead.” Sawyer scolded smacking her palms on his broad back but he didn’t flinch.

“Axell woulda killed me.” He breathed in relief setting her down.

John stood back, a frown marring his features as he watched the cousins embrace. She was still in possession of the personal shield. It just proved she was better able to use it than Rodney but still… She’d had no training, hell she didn’t even know about _Atlantis_!

John shook his head grumbling under his breath as he left the brig.

\----

In three months her life had completely changed. She still felt like an outsider and uncomfortable with the teams she was sent with to ‘explore’ but it was all part of the training. Sometimes, where ever she was off-world, Sawyer wondered if Axell had also talked to the people she spoke with. She wondered if he would be mad at her for taking up the job offer… No, that he wouldn’t have minded. It was the danger he would’ve had a problem with because she was his little sister.

“Smiling at the birds?”

Sawyer abruptly wiped the smile off her face and turned to the soldier remembering where she was and what she was supposed to be doing. His own smile wavered and then he went back to surveying their surroundings. That was another thing, since she wasn’t military personnel the men seemed to find it easier to flirt or even ask her out. Sawyer did not date any soldiers.

Rule 1.

Soldiers were men who liked adventure and that always ended up with them dead.

Rule 2.

Never get involved with the adventurous male.

That wasn’t as easy to do. It wasn’t exactly a fair rule to have considering she did most of the adventure stuff as well. But that’s just how she was raised; living out of suitcases, sleeping in tents or out on a dig site with her parents… Sawyer understood why Axell had become part of the SGC, she felt it too.

Sometimes all you needed was to breathe…away from people and the rush of cities, just to _be._

 _‘Axell seriously took it too far.’_

Then again….

 _‘I’m walking around on some planet in the middle of the Milky Way.’_

P3-593, to be exact.

 _‘So maybe big brother wasn’t the only one with loose or missing screws.’_

“Are we there yet?”

Sawyer had long ago perfected the ‘innocent’ what? look and used it on the team she was accompanying.  Anything was better than dwelling on her dead brother and still trying to accept what sort of work he’d been doing for the AirForce.

Judson called it denial.

Sawyer told him that was a river in Egypt.

“We have a ways to go yet.” Lt. Friggs answered with barely a look in her direction. All four of the SG soldiers walked at a brisk pace through the sparse trees. It was surprising how much the planets she’d visited looked like Earth in one way or another. She’d even seen one that was mostly water peppered with islands and peninsulas, thought they were too large by far for that title except for their shapes, and there were gorgeous lush jungles on each and every one of them.

 _‘Good thing nobody’s cutting down those trees. Damn friggin industrial companies and shit.’_

She hated the destruction-

“What?” her eyes roamed over the trees in front and beside then back to the tense soldiers. Sawyer reached to her thigh and drew her 9mm stepping between the soldiers just like she’d been ordered to do a hundred times over during training sessions. It was part of the job and the fact Dr. Jackson still participated in some of them kept her from complaining even if she did see the benefit of being able to take care of herself. It wasn’t as if Axell hadn't drilled her tirelessly with what he’d learned and it wasn’t as though Sawyer weren’t used to being able to take care of herself, she did that already…

“I’ve got movement.” Capt. Hughes motioned to his left.

“Aren't we supposed to be meeting with some locals?” Sawyer questioned softly. “You know, for the pictures on the walls and the funny squiggles…”

Lt. Friggs actually took the time to narrow his eyes at her while Capt. Hughes motioned the group slowly forward. Sawyer moved with them, slowly circling to get a good look but still didn’t see what they had.

“Ok.” Sawyer breathed getting a little nervous. “We all _heard_ that. Right?”

Another soft growl followed her words and the soldiers stopped. She turned to her right sharply but only managed a glimpse. Something was definitely out there and she was almost sure it wasn’t human.

 _‘I've only got another month before the transfer.’_

One month and then she was heading to Atlantis, just in time for the return trip to the Pegasus Galaxy and a whole new set of aliens. The SGC was just where they dropped Sawyer to get her feet wet. So she had an idea of what to look forward to with the Atlantis teams…

“Anyone else have a bad feeling about this?” she questioned softly.

\----

“Alright,” Mitchell rounded the table and took his seat. “Where are we?”

“SG9 is late.” Carter said and quickly replayed what little information they had while Daniel and Teal’c sat quietly. She listed SG9’s mission glancing at Daniel at mention of the glyphs the team was sent to document. It was one of the new discoveries and the locals had agreed to guide SG9 to the caves. Only SG9 never made contact.

“There have been reports of wild…’animal’ attacks. SG9 was only there to document and study the glyphs found in the caves outside of the village. However, they never made contact with the village or their guide.”

“Is it possible SG9 has been taken by the villagers?” Teal’c questioned shifting only slightly.

“They are a bit…err…volatile.” Daniel added with an uncomfortable shrug of his shoulders.

“I think we should exercise extreme caution and keep an eye out for these ‘animals’ the locals have been talking about.” Carter replied.

“Let’s move out team.” Mitchell got up and strode into the hall.

\----

“Take the job, coz. You need a change of scenery, he says.” Sawyer grumbled under her breath as she slowly made her way through the trees, careful to keep low. “Why the hell do I listen to that moron?” she fumed glaring at the leafy ground while she watched her footing. As far as she knew there wasn’t anyone else coming to get what was left of SG9. Hughes and Friggs where hogtied and out for the count back at the caves but she didn’t know how long that was going to last considering what she saw…. _Them_ , do to the others.

Sawyer scrunched her eyes shut but that only made the images clearer and she almost lost what was left of her lunch.

 _‘Don’t think about it. You don’t think about-_ that _-and it's ok.’_

Yeah, it had to be ok because she was all Hughes and Friggs had left by way of rescue.

 _‘And getting to the StarGate is my only goal_.’

Of course, Sawyer didn’t expect to see the wormhole active, or the four figures that descended from the platform once she did reach it.

“Dr. Jackson…” she whispered under her breath, not wanting to believe that SG1 had been dispatched to check up on them. Sawyer had to remind herself that Daniel was eventually going to come out and see the glyphs for himself. All she’d been doing was documenting the site and taking notes for him… Just like she’d done at any other dig site on Earth when she’d been a Grad Student.

Movement caught her eye and Sawyer drew her weapon, following her target just like Axell had taught her while her feet quickly moved after it. There were more than one of _them_ , all converging on SG1 who didn’t seem to have a clue what was about to happen.

“Not this time, you freaks.” Sawyer stepped out of the tree line taking her first shot and yelling at SG1. She winced, really hoping they didn’t shoot _her_ and ignore the crazy cannibals streaking out of the tree line blowing darts. She could still feel the painful sting on her thigh from her own dart. All Sawyer remembered was falling… and then waking up in a musty smelly cave tied up.

It was the screams.

How did anyone ever forget a sound like that?

And then it was all a cacophony of sound while bullets found targets and all that was left of _them_ were bloody corpses in the clearing around the StarGate.

“Sawyer!”

 She jerked at the sound of her name then drew in a few deep breaths to regain her composure while Dr. Jackson and the rest of SG1 reached her.

 _‘I just killed…’_

What exactly did you call _them_? Those things shaped like men that behaved more like feral beasts and tore into each other at the slightest provocation?

Did they even constitute as human anymore?

“What happened? Where’s the rest of SG9?” Mitchell questioned sharply.

“Same thing that almost happened to you.” Sawyer answered scanning the clearing yet again. “Hughes and Friggs are still alive- err, they were when I left them.”

“Where?” Carter asked quickly moving forward when Sawyer pointed back the way she’d come.

“The caves southeast of here.”

“The glyphs…?” Daniel questioned sharply.

“You know, they weren’t big on giving us a tour before starting in on dinner.” Sawyer quipped paling just a bit as she remembered the screams and pushed away the sight of _them_ tearing apart the remains of a human torso while others took to gnawing on one of the soldiers… “Guess they like their meat fresh.”

“Huh?”

But Sawyer didn’t say anything else as she started towards what was left of SG9.

\----

“She did what?”

“By herself.”

“Who is she again?”

“Another geek, does it matter?”

“Uh, do _you_ want to loose your job?”

“Point made.”

Rodney made no secret of his blatant eavesdropping listening to the gossiping trio sitting at the table behind him and talking about the newest member of the Atlantis expedition. His face was bright pink as he listened to the exploits of the nuisance about to arrive. He wondered what made her accept the job offer this time and wished she’d turned it down yet again.

“Are you ok?” Jennifer asked moving to take the chair beside him while Rodney jerked around in surprise.

“Hmm? Yeah, fine. Great, hi.”

Jennifer smiled, amused by his babbling. She found it adorable and sometimes even instigated his verbal fumbling…

“What have I told you about listening to other conversations?” Jennifer questioned with a sidelong glance at him.

“I wasn’t-.” but Rodney let out a breath and shook his head. Jennifer giggled.

\----

John headed down the long corridor mumbling under his breath.

“Just say hello, welcome aboard and be polite.”

Yeah, that’s all he had to do and as long as she didn’t get smart with him they’d get along fine considering  she’d be going out on her first missions in the Pegasus galaxy with him and his team. Which meant he had to put forth the effort to make peace so the rest of his team –Ronon- would follow his example.

“Come in.” Sawyer called as she set another suitcase on the little bench at the foot of her bed. She was a little surprised the quarters were so big. Now she was wishing she’d brought more of her books along and glanced at the three suitcases already filled with the books she had brought. She giggled softly at the memory of the soldiers helping her cart them to her quarters and their funny looks.

 _‘Let them think its make-up and hair krap, ha!’_

“Settling in.”

Sawyer turned to the open door and couldn’t help her slight scowl at seeing Evan’s superior standing just inside her room. She refused to even think his name considering how rude he’d been to her not to mention he’d locked her in with the Wraith. So what if he’d known she was perfectly safe? That thing had tried to _eat_ her!

“You coming to tell me I'm in the wrong place and escort me back to the brig?” Sawyer questioned waspishly before she could think of the words coming out of her mouth. Then again- Wraith…

“No.” John replied glaring at her but otherwise remained calm and cool. He was not going to take the bait and start another bickering match.

Sawyer drew in a breath and ran both hands through her inky mane. She’d pulled it back- sort of trying to put on that professional front expected of her. It made her feel like a liar, wearing the dark caramel suit and heels- like she was playing dress up when her usual attire was jeans, sneakers and comfortable tops.

She had to be polite, had to smooth things over so that life on Atlantis didn’t turn into hell-

“So…. Iapologizeformyremarksandtheattitude.” She said in a rush of breath and then because it made her feel suddenly uncomfortable, Sawyer yanked off her suit jacket and looked for a hanger.

John could only stare.

 _‘That was an apology?’_

Half of it had been unintelligible but he was sure there was an ‘I'm sorry’ in there somewhere. He watched her stiffen and then her brown eyes were glaring at him over her shoulder.

“Yeah.” She snapped dropping her suit jacket. “That was.”

John cursed inwardly because apparently he’d said that out loud.

“I'm-.”

“What.” Sawyer cut in striding towards him. “You didn’t like it?” she demanded stopping in front of him and glaring up.

“What?” John blinked, confused as to why _she_ was upset now.

“I'm not going to be taking krap from anybody on this ship just because you guys couldn’t do your jobs and we got on board.” Sawyer jabbed her finger in his chest once and turned on her heel intending to finish her unpacking. As far as she was concerned, she’d made her peace offering; if he didn’t want it then she wasn’t going to waste the energy. Nope, Sawyer would just have to put up with John Sheppard whenever they were forced to work together.

“Woa,” John protested following after her. Neither paid attention to the doors closing or the quietness that settled in her quarters now that there was no hall traffic. “One. I came here to welcome you to Atlantis. Two. You're the one who didn’t want to hand over the personal shield and didn’t want to explain your self-.”

“Ha!” Sawyer tossed down the clothes she’d been taking out of the suitcase and turned. “Explain? We never got the chance what with all you shooting first.”

“You were running.”

“Because you're soldiers were _shooting_ at us!”

“They told you to stop.”

“And make a perfect target, yeah right!” Sawyer scoffed.

“You-!” John couldn’t believe he was arguing with her, again. “You got an answer for everything don’t you?” he finally snapped.

“The pot calling the kettle black.” She retorted.

“What- what- huh?”

“What?”

Both looked at each other confused, neither of them was making any sense but neither wanted to be the first to admit it.

“Welcome to Atlantis.” John snapped already turning on his heel.

“Oh yeah. I _certainly_ feel the welcome.” Sawyer replied with heavy sarcasm. “You learn that in flight school too? You know, after they teach you how to shoot _then_ ask questions?”

“You know what?” John growled taking a step towards her and invading her personal space to stare down at her.

“What?” Sawyer snapped hating the fact she was too short and had to look up at him, but she wasn’t about to back off either.

 _‘And let him think I'm a push over? When hell freezes over!’_

But there was no ignoring the fact his closeness was disconcerting though Sawyer wasn’t sure how she felt about it. Did it bother her? She didn’t think it was fear making her stomach suddenly twist in a knot.

“You're insufferable.” John stated. “You can’t just-. Jeez!”

“Uh-huh. That’s real eloquent.” Sawyer grumbled though her words lacked heat.

“You got a smart mouth on you, Ms. Guerra.” John snapped. Then his eyes dropped to the full lips and noticed again the slight rose color-

“Great.” Sawyer rolled her eyes. She didn’t get why it was always the same thing; a ‘smart mouth’, why didn’t they ever admit to being intimidated by her brains instead of picking a fight.

 _‘And why am I even participating?’_

“And I’d prefer if you used my professional title.” She retorted.

“ _Dr._ Guerra.” John corrected through clenched teeth.

“Lt. Col.” She replied with a slight tone of challenge in her voice as she closed the distance between them.

\----

“This is not going to make working with each other any easier.” John said on an expelled breath. Sawyer could only nod in agreement but she wasn’t going to regret any of it.

Both lay staring at the ceiling, sprawled on her bed unable to explain _why_.

Life had certainly become interesting and while John probably wasn’t someone meant to be in Sawyer’s future other than as a ‘co-worker’ she was going to start living in the now and let the past be just that.

Her life was finally beginning…

John glanced at Sawyer out of the corner of his eyes and caught the soft smile on her lips. She seemed pleased with herself, as her eyes closed her smile remained in place.

He smirked.

Working with her certainly wasn’t going to be boring if what he’d read in the reports was true…


End file.
